In cinema that is an application of silver halide photography, is applied a method in which 24 precise static images are projected, one by one, in one second, to obtain a dynamic image having outstandingly higher image quality than other methods reproducing dynamic images. However, recent rapid developments in electronic technologies and information processing technologies have resulted in a proposal of means, e.g., a projector using a DMD device manufactured by Texas Instruments, and an ILA projector manufactured by Huse-JVC, giving an image quality close to that of cinema and reproducing dynamic images more simply. Accordingly, the photographic material for cinema is also required to have simplicity, particularly to enable development processing in a simple and short-time processing.
Reducing development processing time for a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material has been taken up as an important object, and, many studies concerning silver halide emulsions having high developing rates, couplers having high coupling activity, and processing agents enabling rapid-development, have been carried out. To show an example of these studies, a color photographic light-sensitive material using a silver halide emulsion having a high silver chloride content is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,878.
Also, the cinema film is projected by expanding it when it is projected on a screen, and hence fine graininess (granularity) and high sharpness are required for a light-sensitive material used in each of photographing (shooting), editing, and projecting stages.
As means for improving sharpness, it is generally effective to prevent halation, and irradiation and colorants, such as dyes, are used for these purposes. The colorants used for these purposes must fulfill the following performances:    (1) The colorant has no chemically adverse effect on a silver halide emulsion layer in a light-sensitive material; for example, the colorant does not cause a change in sensitivity and the generation of fog.    (2) The colorant is completely decolored in a photographic process or tends to elute from a photographic light-sensitive material, to leave no unacceptable color on the photographic light-sensitive material.    (3) The colorant has a proper spectral absorption corresponding to the purpose of use.
Methods known as coloring means for the prevention of halation include a method in which a specific non-light-sensitive hydrophilic colloidal layer is made to contain fine-particle colloidal silver, a method in which a support having a hydrophilic resin layer, in which carbon fine particles are dispersed, is used, and a method in which a specific non-light-sensitive hydrophilic colloidal layer is made to contain a solid, fine-particle dispersion of a dye removable in a developing process. In particular, the method using a solid, fine-particle dispersion of a dye removable in a developing process, makes it possible to control the hue (color tone) of a colored layer, and to improve both the sharpness of a dye image of the object and sensitivity, and this is a superior method adaptable to a positive film for movies, which film uses silver generated by developing to form a sound track. In this method, a step of removing a resin layer can be omitted in a developing step. This method is therefore superior in view of simplicity of the aforementioned developing process.
There is a coloring method using a water-soluble dye to prevent irradiation. Examples of the dye may include oxonol dyes and other azo dyes, anthraquinone dyes, allylidene dyes, styryl dyes, triarylmethane dyes, merocyanine dyes, and cyanine dyes, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,933.
However, in the case of adding a dye in an amount required to improve sharpness when a solid dispersion of a dye is introduced to prevent halation and a water-soluble dye is used to prevent irradiation, a reduction in the rate of elution of the dye in the photographic processing is unavoidable. It is therefore difficult to attain compatibility of the property important to image quality, such as sharpness, and the reduction in coloring given to a white ground.
It is commonly known that these problems can be improved by measures in which a hydrophilic colloidal layer, formed by application on a support, is itself made thinner. Namely, the formation of a thin layer leads to the result that the dye is easily eluted in the process, and the same irradiation-preventing effect can be expected by using a smaller amount of an irradiation-preventive dye.
Meanwhile, recent progress in projection techniques has allowed the use of a stable and bright light source when a film is projected. It is therefore required for a color positive film for projecting to have a wider dynamic range, which is higher in color density. In order to attain higher color density, much of a silver halide emulsion and a coupler must be introduced into a hydrophilic colloidal layer, which requires a design contrary to the formation of a thin layer. For this reason, a coupler capable of forming a dye having a high molecular extinction coefficient is eagerly desired, to obtain high color density by using it in a smaller amount. In particular, a projecting positive film is demanded to reproduce more vivid color, to thereby show a special effect, obtained by the use of computer graphics in recent years, more effectively.
It is well known that, in a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material, an aromatic primary amine-series color-developing agent, oxidized using the exposed silver halide as an oxidizing agent, is reacted with a coupler, to produce a dye of indophenol, indoaniline, indamine, azomethine, phenoxazine, phenazine, and the like, thereby forming an image. In this photographic system, a subtractive color process is used, and a color image is formed by yellow, magenta, and cyan dyes.
In order to form a magenta dye image among these dye images, pyrazolone-series couplers have been used so far. However, because a dye produced from these couplers exhibits unacceptable absorption in the yellow region, only low vividness and only a relatively low molecular extinction coefficient are obtained. It is therefore necessary to use a large amount of the coupler, to obtain a necessary density, which is contrary to the aforementioned requirement for the formation of a thin layer. For this reason, a coupler by which these problems are solved has been eagerly desired.
As couplers that overcome these problems, pyrazolotriazole couplers are proposed, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,526 and European Patent No. 0545300, and their practical use has been started in silver halide color photographic light-sensitive materials, such as color print paper. These couplers have high coupling activity and are preferable also in view of shortening development processing time.
The inventors of the present invention, having conducted various studies, have found that a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material for cinema which uses a pyrazolotriazole coupler as a magenta coupler, and into which a high silver chloride emulsion is introduced, is preferable to solve these problems. However, from further investigations on a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material for cinema, which uses a pyrazolotriazole coupler, and into which a high silver chloride emulsion is introduced, it has been found that the stability against development processing is impaired, and particularly, the photographic characteristics largely fluctuate in the processing using a developer after the continuous processing.
In the meantime, with regard to light-sensitive materials used for cinema, because the cine film is projected by expanding it when it is projected on a screen, and hence very fine graininess and high sharpness are required for a light-sensitive material used in each of photographing, editing, and projecting stages. On the other hand, in the process steps for cinema, two informations, consisting of image information formed by a color-forming agent, and sound information formed primarily by a silver image, are incorporated into one cine film, and development, fixing and washing steps are independently performed for each information. The conventional process is performed in over 15 steps, excluding a drying step, and also, the process time of each step is long. Therefore, there has been a strong request to decrease the number of process steps and to attain simplification of the process steps and reduction in the process time, in view of lightening environmental burdens.
In response to these demands, in view of decreasing the number of processing steps, JP-A-11-95371 (“JP-A” means unexamined published Japanese patent application) discloses a technique in which, using solid, fine-particle dispersion removable in a process in succession to color-development bath, a step of removing a resin backing layer, that is, a black antihalation layer, containing carbon fine particles, can be omitted. Also, JP-A-11-282106 discloses a technique in which, in addition to the omission of a step of removing a resin backing layer containing carbon fine particles, an infrared absorbable dye reduced in remaining color is formed in a color-developing process, to make soundtrack information, whereby a conventional soundtrack developing step can be omitted. These techniques are excellent technologies to reduce the number of process steps.
However, even if the number of process steps can be decreased in this manner, there is a strong demand for a process in a larger amount than the conventional process, namely, a further rapid process. Particularly, not only reduction in the number of steps but also reduction in the process time in each process step, specifically, reduction in the process time by accelerating the process speed in each step, has become desired.